Sheila Hancock Attacks Insurance Costs for Older Drivers

Insurance companies are facing pressure to justify high premiums for older drivers.

Sheila Hancock, the actor and author who was married to Morse star John Thaw, has taken Admiral insurance to task after her insurance rocketed by 157% over a 12-month period, rising from £873 per year to £2,246.

Miss Hancock has said that the huge increases for older people could make driving unaffordable for Britain’s millions of elderly motorists, leaving many trapped in their homes.

“If you look for insurance over the age of 80 there are hardly any companies that will even touch it,” she said. “Yet I would be pretty sure that if you look at the statistics there are far fewer accidents involving older people than there are with butch 30-year-olds who work in the City.

“What is going to happen with the ageing population?’ she said. ‘If I was stuck in the country and couldn’t afford my insurance, and a lot of people couldn’t, what do you do? It’s absurd.”

Admiral has defended its pricing system, arguing that age was not a factor in the actor’s increased costs.

Instead, Admiral take the view that because Miss Hancock has been involved in two accidents that were not her fault, she would be more likely to be involved in a crash and make a claim in the future.

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